FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT BUSINESS WEEK - PAGE 5

Despite repeated successes, Chief Inspector Michael Ohayon, hero of Batya Gur's detective mysteries (such as "Literary Murder"), often is in hot water with his boss, Ariyeh Levy. Ohayon, a notoriously slow starter, wanders about, seemingly aimlessly, picking up the mood and sensing the context. Woe betide Ohayon had he gone to business school, then tried to get a job as a consultant with McKinsey & Co. or Mercer Management. Reporting on the B-school job scramble, Business Week calls a typical interview with McKinsey an "intense grilling"; Mercer presents the candidate with a hypothetical case "requiring a quick analysis" ("describe how a commercial bank should create and implement a major marketing effort")

Few places provide more visible evidence that money is a powerful motivator than this city's mighty towers of capitalism, where a few thousand corporate executives run vast business empires. Here the Morgans and the Vanderbilts made their fortunes by investing in ventures that helped a big, young, brawling economy grow. Here generations of entrepreneurial corporate executives found wealth and power in building large companies. But in 1991, the denizens of America's executive suites are a different breed.

What makes a magazine great? The writing. The ideas. The photography. The design. Sure. But more importantly, a magazine's worth depends on how it catches readers' glances, and then their hearts. Here, Tempo presents its second annual 50 Best Magazines list. Our selections reflect the periodicals that we pay good money to buy, that we pile on our nightstands, that we devour on trains, that we consider to be the best at what they set out to do. There are more than 17,500 magazines published in this country, so choosing the 50 best was daunting.

Bloomberg LP is buying BusinessWeek magazine in a deal that brings together a financial news service specializing in rapid-fire updates with a print publication struggling to adapt to the Internet's information whirlwind. Terms were not disclosed. The sale announced Tuesday is expected to close by the end of the year. It would end BusinessWeek's 80-year run as part of McGraw-Hill Cos., which also owns the Standard & Poor's credit rating agency. Like many print publications, BusinessWeek has been reeling from a one-two punch: the longest U.S. recession since World War II and a massive shift in media consumption that has driven more advertising online, where the prices are generally lower than in print.

Business Week magazine said it is examining possible links between stock prices and articles that were due to appear in the magazine. The publication said lawyers are investigating the entire publishing process and checking security measures taken for the magazine prior to publication.

They're all busy weeks in the NFL, sure. But it certainly seems as if Bears linebacker Lance Briggs has his plate loaded up more than usual heading for Sunday's game against the Redskins at FedEx Field. For starters, Briggs remains the signal caller and emotional leader of a constantly reshuffling defense that's looking to steady itself. On top of that, Briggs has the heightened responsibility of guiding rookie Jon Bostic into his first NFL start at middle linebacker. And, oh yeah, a big part of the defense's task this week revolves around slowing Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, who threw for 246 yards last week, ran for 77 and picked up 30 additional yards on Cowboys personal foul penalties.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. has proposed eliminating 2,000 jobs as part of its bankruptcy restructuring, including 1,000 at its mill in Burns Harbor, Ind., local union officials said. Clarence Ehlers, a Bethlehem spokesman at the mill, declined to comment Wednesday, saying the company would not discuss employment issues while negotiations were continuing. Officials from Bethlehem, the nation's third-largest steel producer, and the United Steelworkers of America were in Pittsburgh negotiating a restructuring agreement to present to a bankruptcy judge.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday charged a former California salesman for the Chicago commercial printing firm of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. with illegal insider trading based on advance copies of Business Week magazine. The civil complaint filed against Shayne A. Walters seeks disgorgement of $31,033 under the Insider Trading Sanctions Act of 1984. The SEC alleges that, from September, 1986, to July, 1988, Walters took advance copies of Business Week printed at Donnelley's Torrance, Calif.

The week just passed was another eventful one for Chicago burglars Joseph Panczko and his younger brother, Paul. Joseph "Pops" Panczko, 69, dean emeritus of a once wide-ranging clan of thieves, was finally transferred to a federal prison he likes and was welcomed by none other than jailed mob chieftain Joseph Aiuppa. And his younger brother, Paul "Peanuts" Panczko, 64, freshly paroled from another federal prison, learned that his estranged wife, Lucy, has dropped her opposition to his petition for divorce, thus paving the way for his marriage to convicted madam Doris "Dolly" Fischer.